THE EAGLE HUNTRESS

Aisholpan was a young nomadic Khazak girl who grew up in the most remote part of northwestern Mongolia. She became the face of fierce feminism as the first girl - not yet a woman at the age of 13 - to enter and then win the famous Golden Eagle Contest, which was created specifically to resuscitate the ancient Khazak tradition of eagle hunting after it had almost been snuffed out during the communist era.

An Oscar-nominated, internationally acclaimed documentary film capturing her win in a male dominated sport made Aisholpan and the sport internationally famous. Since then, this soft spoken but strong girl, who can ride a pony at a full gallop with a 15-pound bird on her arm, has travelled the world, walked red carpets and received many prestigious awards for representing both her culture and the possibility of strong ambition for young girls everywhere. Along the way, she sees how that culture, and its reverence and respect for nature, is the very reason she is so famous.

Her story tells the age-old relationship her people have with nature, and how that has kept her grounded just as it has elevated a sport she loves and opened it up to dozens of young Khazak girls who have since taken it up. As Aisholpan says in the book, "My father saw I had a talent with eagles, and he encouraged me. Now my success has encouraged so many other girls to do the same. This makes me happy."

Aisholpan Nurgaiv was the first female to win the Golden Eagle Contest celebrating the ancient Khazak tradition of eagle hunting. The documentary The Eagle Huntress first introduced her story to the world.

Liz Welch is an author and freelance journalist. She worked with Malala Yousafzai on her most recent book, We Are Displaced. Her writing has appeared in Chicago Tribune, Inc., Vogue, ELLE, Glamour, Health, Real Simple, Cosmopolitan, SELF Magazine, Marie Claire, and Seventeen.